The average age of a successful startup founder is 45.
Time is on your side, kids.
Jaime Schmidt
4,999 posts
Jaime Schmidt
@jaimeschmidt
Building businesses & playing pickleball. Founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, acquired by Unilever. Cofounder @mybff & @cpgclub.
Joined September 2016
- Chasing investor money isn’t for everyone. I bootstrapped my business to $25M in revenue and a $100M+ acquisition. Here’s how you can build from nothing, too. A thread 🧵
- When my company was acquired by Unilever, I learned they’d been closely watching the brand for years. They could’ve spent those years building their own competing product. But brand equity can’t be recreated in a lab. Your greatest competitive advantage is you. Keep building.
- 5 yrs ago today I was in a roomful of attorneys, signing a $100M+ deal to sell my biz. Still so surreal. I didn’t come from a family of entrepreneurs. I had no credentials to my name. Money was tight af. Most saw my idea as a cute hobby. The best bet you’ll ever make is on you.
- Venture capital gets all the attention yet provides only 0.05% of startup funding. Meanwhile, big wins are happening every day in loans, grants, crowdfunding, angel investments & bootstrapping to profitability. 🎉
- 10 yrs ago I started a business that, as a VC, I probably wouldn’t have invested in. As a founder I was all in, but as an outsider there was good reason to be skeptical. 7 yrs later the company sold for $100M+. The rejection you might see today is no indicator of your potential.
- I bootstrapped my startup & spent every dollar with care so I could later spend $200,000 on a digital ape
- left: R&D lab where my biz was born right: R&D lab of competitor who paid $100M+ for my biz Never underestimate what you’re capable of.
- You'll never forget the ones who took a bet on you early.
- Forget marrying into money. Find a partner you can build generational wealth with together. That’s way more fun.
- Startup life is feeling like a badass half the time & a fool the other half
- Less “Women in Web3” panels. More women on web3 panels.
